Lorain police work quickly, safety-service director says

Two incidents of violence over the four days of the long New Year’s weekend show Lorain police are acting aggressively to investigate crimes in the city, said Safety-Service Director Dan Given.

Starting late Dec. 29, Lorain police investigated the robbery of a West Erie Avenue market in which officers found a suspect who then apparently took his own life with a gunshot at a home on Madison Avenue, according to a police report.

About 5:38 a.m. Jan. 1, police were called to 807 West 22nd St. for a report of shots fired. Officers found a man dead in the basement, an apparent homicide, and later arrested a suspect, Marlon Johnson, 42, in connection with the incident.

The incidents are unfortunate, but not isolated to Lorain, Given said on Jan. 2.

Advertisement

“The one thing that I think we as Lorain citizens need to be aware of and be cognizant of is that our Lorain Police Department is being super-aggressive in these instances,” Given said.

Investigating the robbery, officers in a short amount of time tracked the suspect, surrounded the house where he was and obtained a search warrant to arrest the man when he turned the gun on himself, Given said.

In the homicide investigation, police within a short time determined the suspect’s identity and arrested him on Jan. 2, Given said.

Addressing violence in the community, Lorain must find people involved and hold them accountable for their actions, Given said.

“In this case the Lorain Police Department did a stellar job and took care of two individuals,” Given said. One is no longer living, but one is in custody and the city should be proud of the quick investigations, he said.

Lorain or any community becomes a violent community when police don’t aggressively go after people committing the violence, Given said.

“In these instances you can see that the Lorain Police Department is aggressively going after those perpetrators and they’re finding them,” he said.